Storm batters UK before Christmas. South Sudan descends into state of civil war. Cameron ‘irrational on immigration.’ MacShane imprisoned six months for fraud. Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the AK-47, dies aged 94. North Korea's Kim Jong-un 'was very drunk' when ordering executions. OMAN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT The board of directors of the investment firm appointed Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Balushi as chief executive with effect from Jan. 19. He had been the CEO of Ahli Bank since 2007. CENTRAL BANK OF URUGUAY Uruguayan President Jose Mujica will replace the outgoing head of the central bank with Alberto Grana, one of the central bank's top officials, a government source told Reuters. Grana, currently the head of economic policy and markets for the bank, will replace Mario Bergara, who was named the small South American country's new economy minister.
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Troublesome elves and pushy parents are all part of the job, academics have found. And having a real beard is a big help. Perhaps when you last sauntered past a Santa's grotto somewhere in the bowels of an urban shopping centre, you thought you were witnessing just another transaction, one in which parents shell out a few pounds so their offspring can enjoy a five-minute chat with a man sporting a fake beard. Not so. What you actually saw, according to a rigorous academic study based on interviews with a multitude of Santas, was nothing less than "a performative, epistemic and ethical process of self-transformation", in which the actor playing Father Christmas sought to "transcend the trials and tribulations they encountered as interactive service workers, ranging from crying and vomiting babies to verbal assaults from teenagers, up to and including attempted robbery". The motive for putting up with so much? "The sense of recognition … bestowed upon them." Or, as one Santa interviewed for…
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Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina released from Russian jail. Rolf Harris faces three further charges. Israel condemns US spying. North-south jobs divide continues. Apple signs deal with China Mobile. France drowning in surplus bubbly as Brits lose taste for champagne. PR executive Justine Sacco apologises after losing job over racist Aids ‘joke’ provoked #HasJustineLandedYet Twitter storm. Councils make £600 million from parking fines. Tory MP Anna Soubry apologises to Nigel Farage after she says he ‘looks like somebody put their finger up his bottom’. RIYADH, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday appointed his son Prince Mishaal as governor of Mecca Province, one of the most prominent jobs in the country, the latest move in a rolling reshuffle of senior ruling family members over the past two years. He replaces Prince Khaled al-Faisal, who has been made education minister, a move that may revive stalled educational reforms aimed at reducing the influence of religious conservatives, Saudi analysts said. The appointments were announced in…
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West End emergency: Scores injured as roof collapses during show at Apollo Theatre. Nearly 50% of teachers have considered quitting jobs in past year. French far-right politician Jean Marie Le Pen fined for racist Roma remarks. HMRC 'lost nerve' over big tax avoiders, say MPs. Serco to repay £68m over tagging. Balls asks shadow cabinet for ideas. Just got a job playing triangle in a reggae band. It's pretty easy. I just stand at the back and ting. If Hull City's name is allowed to be changed to Hull Tigers, there will be no English football team with a name where you can't colour in any of the letters. Postman Jermaine Shirley catches twin babies thrown from burning New York building. Scientists reverse ageing in mice. CREDIT SUISSE GROUP AG The Switzerland-based financial services company has hired a former Morgan Stanley investment banker Brian McCabe to become co-head of its Americas oil and gas investment banking group, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.…
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ENGLAND’S reported loss to Australia in The Ashes has been discounted because it took place on the other side of the world. UK military risks being ‘hollow force’. Lostprophets singer, Watkins jailed for 35 years. Storms arrive. Christmas come early? Justin Bieber announces ‘retirement’. America's 'virgin births'? One in 200 mothers 'became pregnant without having sex'. No-one really wants to be Belgian. Ranting Heather Mills storms out of UK disabled skiing team in furious bust-up over boot. Jury asked; ‘was Nigella off her head?’ DEUTSCHE BANK AG Europe's No. 1 investment bank by revenue named Maria Cristina Ricciardi as head of global transaction banking for Latin America, seeking to grow in a segment where businesses are booming from Mexico to Chile. She will also head trade finance and cash management corporates from Deutsche Bank's Sao Paulo office. Ricciardi, known in Brazilian financial circles as "Kika," has worked for Citigroup Inc in the New York-based bank's global subsidiaries group in Brazil, Deutsche Bank said. BAWAG…
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Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum. Scientists ‘incredibly concerned’ for fate of banana. Ronnie Biggs dies aged 84. Children evacuated from swimming pool after prosthetic leg mistaken for paedophile. British doctor dies in Syrian prison. Google buys US robot firm. Vitamin supplements ‘a waste of cash’. UK inflation at four-year low of 2.1%. EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK Germany will propose Sabine Lautenschlaeger, a vice president at the German Bundesbank, to take the board seat at the European Central Bank that is being vacated by Joerg Asmussen, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Asmussen announced on Sunday that he would be returning to Berlin after just two years on the ECB's six-member executive board to become state secretary in the labor ministry. THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC The Scottish bank announced several senior appointments in South Korea. Bryan Park, who rejoined RBS from HSBC Korea, was appointed head of international banking for Korea. Shyong Lee, who relocated…
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Fred Schiphorst has been out of work for more than a decade, because of a bad back and chronic alcoholism. Last year he finally found a job and wants to keep it. He gets up at 5.30 am, walks his dog, puts on a tie and gets ready to clean the streets of Amsterdam. He says: “I’m not proud of being an alcoholic, but I am proud to have a job again.” The former construction worker says: “You have to look sharp. His workday begins at 9 a.m. — with two cans of beer, a down-payment on a salary paid mostly in alcohol. He gets two more cans at lunch and then another can or, if all goes smoothly, two to round off a productive day. Mr. Schiphorst is a grateful beneficiary of an unusual government-funded programme to lure alcoholics off the streets, by paying them in beer to pick up trash. In addition to beer, the brand varies depending on which brewery offers the…
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UN launches $6.5bn Syria appeal. Mission accomplished in Afghanistan: Cameron. New runways proposed for Heathrow and Gatwick. Boris Island not going to happen. Peer admits ‘clocking in for cash’. Born after 1960? poor you. Canoe man back under arrest. Clegg: Migrant plan illegal. Villas Boas sacked: £4.5m goodbye deal for Spurs boss axed after 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool. Female chief for Lloyd’s of London. Italian protester charged with sexual assault after kissing riot police officer. Millions in aid to China criticised as ambitious space programme is announced. JP MORGAN CHA The financial holding company said it promoted Bader Alamoudi as chief executive of its Saudi Arabian business and Rayan Fayez as the senior country officer. The company's top banker in the kingdom, Abdulaziz Al Helaissi, left in the first half of 2013 to join the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. STATE STREET GLOBAL ADVISORS The asset management business of State Street Corp said it appointed Mark Fortier as managing director, head of global defined contribution…
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Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek executed, say North Korean state media. Osborne in new attack on welfare. New benefits test for immigrants. Must speak English. PM rebuked for Lawson remarks. Is the universe a hologram? SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS ASSOCIATION Wall Street trade group SIFMA said former U.S. Republican senator Judd Gregg is stepping down as chief executive of the group after less than a year in the position. He will continue serving as a senior adviser. SIFMA appointed President Kenneth Bentsen as Gregg's replacement. Bentsen. NEWEDGE GROUP The U.S.-based futures brokerage's global commodities and currencies chief John Fay has left the company ahead of a major ownership change. Newedge said long-time SocGen commodities executive Francois Combes will run the global commodities business while Franck Borgel, the chief operating officer of the commodities and currencies division, will take responsibility for global currencies. Combes joins from SocGen corporate & investment banking (SG CIB), where he was most recently deputy head of commodities and head of…
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